The object of the study is the recreational and tourist complex of the city of Sochi (Big Sochi), the subject includes the tools for developing the recreational and tourist potential of this city. Based on statistics, analytical materials of research organizations and indicators of tourist rankings, the authors systematize the tools for developing the tourist attractiveness of Sochi and the Krasnodar Krai. It has been revealed that for the rimebeing financial and investment instruments remain the key tools for developing the tourist attractiveness of Sochi with relatively low involvement of the local population and businesses, and, until recently, little information support for existing federal, municipal programs and initiatives. Though in the last 10 years the financial indicators of the development of the resort city remained at a fairly high level and showed positive dynamics due to the popularity of the Olympic Games, and later due to the reduction in opportunities for foreign holidays for Russian tourists due to the pandemic, and further sanction restrictions for travelling, it seems to be an obvious necessity to develop the tourist attractiveness and the actual identity of the region, as well as to elaborate clear and comprehensive programs to promote the competitive advantages of this territory. This assumption is based on the understanding of the potential of the territory as the totality of all available resources and means of their activation, including a recognizable brand adequate to the opportunities and advantages of the region and tools to promote the competitive advantages of Greater Sochi for internal and external audiences. Given that the city has historically been a symbol of summer holidays and sanatorium-resort therapy, as well as truly unique natural and cultural resources of the location, and taking into account the analysis of the methodological framework and international practice carried out by the authors, this approach seems rational and justified.